Transcript Nazi Conquest of Europe 1936-1941

“I Will Return to
Germany what was
once German.”
Adolf Hitler
Occupation of the Rhineland
1936

German troops re-enter the Rhine in
violation of the Versailles Treaty.

French troops do nothing to stop this.

German Generals do not remove Hitler
as a result.
Anschluss with
Austria

German and Austrian Nazi’s force
Austria’s government to accept
annexation in the spring of 1938.

This ‘bloodless’ coup legitimizes
Hitler’s claim to power in Germany.
Not all Austrian’s favored the
Anschluss…
Czechoslovakia
1938-39

3 million Germans live in western
Czech.

These Sudeten Germans cry out for
Germany to save them.

German troops occupy without a
struggle.
“Czechoslovakia is like
a dagger pointed at
the heart of Germany,
I must have it.”
The “Dagger”
Munich Conference 1938
Appeasement is born
 France,
England, and the
Czech. Meet with Germans,
Italians at Munich.
 Chamberlain
and Daladier
agree to let Hitler keep
everything he’s seized if he
promises to stop.
Hitler was willing to back
down had the Allies pushed
him at Munich.
Their weakness gave Hitler
new strength and credibility
with his Generals
Hitler invades eastern
Czech.
1939
Allies warn that the next move will
mean war.
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
SOVIET - NON AGGRESSION
PACT - AUG. 1939

Hitler and Stalin
forge an “alliance of
convenience” and
seal POLAND’S fate.

Sept. 1, 1939
German troops
BLITZKRIEG into
Poland.
FALL OF THE WEST
SPRING OF ‘40
 NORWAY
 DENMARK
 HOLLAND
 BELGIUM
 LUXEMBOUR
G
 FRANCE
Hitler’s greatest moment...
Accepting France’s
surrender in June of 1940
At the very site of WWI
surrender
Hitler’s First Tragic Mistake

Allowing the British and Commonwealth
troops to escape to England at Dunkirk
Hitler’s Second Tragic Mistake


Impatient with
England and the
failed Battle of
Britain
Hitler decides to tear
up the Soviet NonAggression Pact and
launch his armies
against the Soviets.

Operation
“Barbarrosa”
Hitler’s Two Front War




Hitler vowed that he would never make the
same mistake that Kaiser Wilhelm made in
the first world war that doomed Germany.
Flushed with success and overconfident,
Hitler breaks that vow by attacking to the
east.
He now had England in the West and the
Soviet Union in the East.
The results would be disastrous for Germany
Hitler’s Third Fatal Mistake

Declaring war on the U.S. following
Pearl Harbor proved disastrous for
Germany.
The results of waiting “an extra
hour” for Germany.